Andreas Bhend Takes IKEA Hacking to the Next Level

The IKEA hack is a veritable touchstone of the young and resourceful (read: broke) contingent of DIYers, but this Flotspotted project is exceptional for its scope: not only does Swiss designer Andreas Bhend hack the furniture but also the instructions themselves. "Frosta" is a collection of three articles of furniture that are made from reconstituted stools of the same name (which, in a 'meta' twist, are themselves Alvar Aalto knockoffs).

The fact that his modified instructions call for power tools and handsaws provides only the subtlest of hints that something is amiss.

Thus, Bhend has subverted the universalist pictograms of IKEA instruction manuals—a sort of language in itself—for his own ends. Even the promo video is vaguely IKEA-like:

See each of the individual projects after the jump...

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Formerly an editor and currently a contributor to Core77 (among other publications), Ray relocated from New York City to the Netherlands in September 2015 to pursue a Master’s in Curating & Writing at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Insatiably curious, he brings a broad interest in popular culture, media, and technology — alongside an abiding passion for art, music, and cycling — to his practice as a journalist and critic.

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